Widney gets back to bid talks

Widney, which has spent much of the past year in dispute with majority shareholder SEP, is in talks with a possible bidder and expects to make an announcement soon. The news comes weeks after the company survived an extraordinary general meeting requisitioned by SEP and its former chairman and chief executive Paul Formby, aimed at […]

Widney, which has spent much of the past year in dispute with majority shareholder SEP, is in talks with a possible bidder and expects to make an announcement soon.

The news comes weeks after the company survived an extraordinary general meeting requisitioned by SEP and its former chairman and chief executive Paul Formby, aimed at forcing Widney directors off the board. In a surprise turn of events, Formby resigned from SEP on the day of the meeting after the discovery of accounting irregularities in his own company.

Bid talks were interrupted by the row with SEP, but Widney’s shareholders could now see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Last week’s announcement came as the group revealed a pre-tax profit of £51,000, compared with a loss of £619,000 last year. After accounting for disposals, however, profit on continuing operations was down from £643,000 to £241,000.

Widney blamed the fall on poor trading conditions resulting from the Strategic Defence Review and the manufacturing recession.

Turnover on continuing operations dropped from £13.6m to £12.5m.

Widney also took a £125,000 hit relating to the cost of bid discussions and the expenses incurred with the recent EGM.